Xi elaborates Chinese civilization at College of Europe

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Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers a keynote speech at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium, April 1, 2014. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei)

BRUGES, Belgium, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping elaborated the Chinese civilization on Tuesday while addressing the students and faculties at the College of Europe.

Noting that China has a time-honored civilization, Xi said that, of the world's ancient civilizations, the Chinese civilization has spanned over 5,000 years and continued uninterrupted to this day.

"The Chinese characters, invented by our ancestors several millennia ago, are still used today," he said.

Over 2,000 years ago, there was an era of great intellectual accomplishments in China, which is referred to as "the period of one hundred masters and schools of thought," Xi said.

Great thinkers such as Laozi, Confucius and Mozi, to name just a few, explored a wide range of topics from the universe to the Earth, and from relations between man and nature to those amongst human beings and between individuals and society, Xi said.

"These values and teachings still carry a profound impact on Chinese people's way of life today, underpinning the unique value system in the Chinese outlook of the world, of society, and of life itself," he said.

The unique and time-honored intellectual legacy has instilled a strong sense of national confidence in the Chinese people and nurtured a national spirit with patriotism at the very core, Xi said.

Belgium is the last stop of Xi's four-nation Europe tour, which also took him to the Netherlands, France and Germany.